Dead State - Post-Funding Update #35

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DoubleBear Productions has posted a new post-funding update for Dead State with more information on the Early Access Demo.

Early Access Demo Progress Update

The demo will be going up on Steam Early Access – we’re shooting for the end of this month, though it may be delayed for any major bugs we find late in the process (so please don’t freak out if it doesn’t show up by Jan. 31st!) When the demo goes live, we will be sending access codes to our backers - we’ve got quite a few to process, so they may not all go out at the same time. The game will also be up for pre-order on Steam, which will also allow people who missed the Kickstarter to gain access to the demo as well. We will still be offering the DRM-free final release to backers, however the demo will only be on Steam for now.

We were shooting for mid-January for the demo, but due to some personal complications and the holidays, the demo was pushed back slightly – we apologize for the inconvenience and we want to make sure that everyone understands that we are doing our best to get the demo out as soon as we can. That said, here’s a summary of what you can expect in the First Seven Days demo:

  • -6-10 hours of gameplay (especially long if you go everywhere/loot everything/talk to everyone)
  • -Over a dozen locations, including areas never shown before, such as Downtown Splendid
  • -One “hidden area” and two “conditional” allies
  • -First looks at multiple weapons and armor
  • -First look at the new and improved combat GUI
If you’re at all interested in game development, this is a chance to see the early stages of a final release and have a voice in the final product. We appreciate everyone’s continued patience and we will post on Kickstarter the minute the codes start going out. We’ll handle minor updates on the forums and look forward to seeing your feedback there. It’s already been a big year for Kickstarter-funded game releases, and we are extremely excited to be bringing you the full version of Dead State later this year.
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More information.
 
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Completely contrary to my usual disposition, I might actually check this out for a couple of hours when I receive my key. I am not in the mood to invest seriously in any game in my backlog at the moment so my usual resolve to not spoil the final experience is a bit weaker these days :uneasy:

P.S. Unless Blackguards comes to the rescue in time that is :biggrin:
 
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What an event!
The one question it asks is why the big, bad corporations keep taking so much blame for their supposed lack of ethics.

So many indies have shown that actually ethics were not the problem, the problem was the big, bad corporations were so successful they ran the show, that they excluded others from taking their line of business.

So that indie, just like so many others, advertized the project from the angle of DRM free… to release a demo (to collect more revenues) exclusive to Steam.

Hey, there is no breach, just wait for the final release of the game, it will come DRM free.
We all back the same vision of the project after all.
But what about the so much needed feed back to get that product you like?
Just wait for the final release and jettison the feedback opportunity or just take the Steam demo, yielding on the DRM free stuff to provide that highly valuable feed back?

Nothing to worry about though, players who will join from the SEA stage all missed on the KS funding stage. If they knew about it, they would have joined from the KS because they support DRM free release versions.

All backers back the same vision after all. Including those who join from the SEA stage.
 
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I don't think that many people care now if it is DRM free or not (even backers).

There is a major 'cultural' shift that Steam is the definitive platform such that there is only a 'Steam game' now, not a PC game.
 
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SpoonFULL said:
I don't think that many people care now if it is DRM free or not (even backers).

There is a major 'cultural' shift that Steam is the definitive platform such that there is only a 'Steam game' now, not a PC game.
Click to expand...

It's more about saving time doing only one build (which takes at least a day to do), plus saving the time to handle a suitable storage, saving money since Steam doesn't charge for bandwith, ease of patching especially for a beta (since you can make sure that everyone is getting the patches)… When you have only a couple of programmers, is a big time (and money) saver.
 
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SpoonFULL said:
I don't think that many people care now if it is DRM free or not (even backers).
Click to expand...

Shadowrun Returns suggests otherwise. The reaction to them going steam only (after saying there'd be drm free too) was sufficient that they went back to MS to renegogiate their contract. That was full steam only though, not just a demo.

There is a major 'cultural' shift that Steam is the definitive platform such that there is only a 'Steam game' now, not a PC game.
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Yeah, mainstream PC gaming is dead and Gabe Newell killed it. Well, not really, there are still more non steam exclusive games than anyone could realistically play each year.

Early Access is pretty clearly steam's attempt to subsume kickstarter in much the same way as steamworks subsumed mainstream PC gaming though.
 
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Elhoim said:
It's more about saving time doing only one build (which takes at least a day to do), plus saving the time to handle a suitable storage, saving money since Steam doesn't charge for bandwith, ease of patching especially for a beta (since you can make sure that everyone is getting the patches)… When you have only a couple of programmers, is a big time (and money) saver.
Click to expand...

Totally agree and it would not be logical to do otherwise for early access.

Does that mean that you will release Age of Decadence, say on GoG, when it is complete?
 
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SpoonFULL said:
I don't think that many people care now if it is DRM free or not (even backers). There is a major 'cultural' shift that Steam is the definitive platform such that there is only a 'Steam game' now, not a PC game.
Click to expand...

Yeah, you're right. It's literally been years since I got a game or any DLC from anyone but Steam. They made themselves the only viable option. Really sucks, in my opinion, and I'd rather buy games I actually owned and that nobody but me got a say so in how and when I played them, but even the software devs sold us out when started requiring Steam accounts (or worse, that damn MS Live crap) to play even an off the shelf retail copy of the game.
 
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Well, some of us *have to* care about the DRM free version. I'm stuck with dial-up where I live and Steam hates dial-up. For Steam games I have to go to a friend's place (30 minutes each way) and update everything on my laptop using his internet then come home and transfer everything over to my good PC. Kind of a hassle.

I'll be waiting for my DRM free version. I doubt I'd want to spoil it anyway so it's no big deal to me (happy to wait for the full version).

edit:I backed it on Kickstarter, that's why I don't mind the waiting. Even if I can get early access I think I'd wait.
 
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SpoonFULL said:
Does that mean that you will release Age of Decadence, say on GoG, when it is complete?
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Yes. We have a distribution agreement with GoG. Also, the 'early access' version of the game is available DRM-free for those who wish to order directly.
 
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SpoonFULL said:
I don't think that many people care now if it is DRM free or not (even backers).

There is a major 'cultural' shift that Steam is the definitive platform such that there is only a 'Steam game' now, not a PC game.
Click to expand...

Major cultural shift? But players reported that they thought KS projects was a way to get their demand met once again.

If there is such a cultural shift, how does it come that DRM free version was made an sale argument and that people saw it as such? On the ground of that marvelous cultural shift, you should go for Steam version only.

The big, bad corporations, the ones that crush the market and prevent small indies from delivering their ethical way of doing business, at least, say it right away: they do not want money from people who want DRM free.

It is brutal but it is honest.

For crowdfunded projects, DRM free is just a bait to try and attract more funding. The target is to make a Steam game all down the way.

Elhoim said:
It's more about saving time doing only one build (which takes at least a day to do), plus saving the time to handle a suitable storage, saving money since Steam doesn't charge for bandwith, ease of patching especially for a beta (since you can make sure that everyone is getting the patches)… When you have only a couple of programmers, is a big time (and money) saver.
Click to expand...

It is more about getting the benefits of displaying the game on the Steam platform.
One build only, the DRM free version, could have been released. But that would have ruined the exposure that is provided by the Steam platform.
The Steam exposure might allow to raise as much as the KS, double it up or even go for the million dollars.

Problem with ethical behaviour is that it does not come from free, it has some cost.
That is the trouble with ethics in general.

Majnun said:
I'll be waiting for my DRM free version. I doubt I'd want to spoil it anyway so it's no big deal to me (happy to wait for the full version).
Click to expand...
Do that and kiss goodbye to your opportunity to push in creative input. The demo should be light, one hour travelling is only one hour.
 
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